By Elizabeth Dubovsky

Fresh Bristol Bay sockeye salmon will be making its debut this summer on plates across the country in New York, Boston, Washington D.C., Chicago, Las Vegas, Seattle and many more cities. Over 50 restaurants will feature Bristol Bay sockeye salmon on their menu and/or host a Savor Bristol Bay Dinner to support Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery and protection from threats like the proposed Pebble Mine.  A full list of participating restaurants can be found here.

With over 300 chefs signed on to a letter urging President Obama to proactively protect Bristol Bay’s salmon fishery, the nation’s food community has become a vocal advocate for Bristol Bay salmon. Chefs such as Michael Leviton appreciate why wild salmon is such a unique and exceptional ingredient. "Great ingredients like Bristol Bay sockeye salmon make us better chefs,” says Chef Leviton, owner/partner of Lumiere and Area Four restaurants in Boston, as well as chair of Chefs Collaborative’s national board.  “So we all have an obligation to protect resources like this one."

The Savor Bristol Bay dinner series will span into early August, with each participating restaurant hosting their own unique salmon dinner and/or promotion.  Some restaurants -such as Mother’s Bistro in Portland, Oregon - will be hosting a special “Red Gold” documentary screening and salmon dinner, while others – like ESCA in New York - will serve Bristol Bay sockeye for the duration of the season.  Find details about each restaurant’s event/menu specials here.  While each event and promotion will be unique, they will all have one thing in common:  pure, sustainable, high quality Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon.

As longtime seafood champion Chef Rick Moonen of rm seafood in Las Vegas notes, “In order to provide my guests with the best dining I need high quality ingredients, like wild Bristol Bay salmon. Our nation's food industry cannot afford to lose the world's largest sockeye supply to a hard metal mine of unimaginable size and scale. We need to protect our last sustainable seafood sources while we still can.”

We couldn’t agree more.  So grab your forks and head out to your nearest participating Savor Bristol Bay restaurant and celebrate one of our nation’s greatest – and most delicious – natural treasures.

Check out Chef Rick Moonen’s video about Bristol Bay and the proposed Pebble Mine here.

Elizabeth Dubovsky is the director of the Why Wild program, which helps educate salmon consumers, chefs, retailers, seafood processors, fishermen, and others about why wild salmon are the healthiest choice for both people and the environment and why voting with your fork for wild salmon is a critical way of sustaining our wild salmon fisheries.